Instructional
2010 NFA-LD Debate Cooperative
John Boyer has released details for the 2010 NFA-LD Debate Cooperative, to be held once again at Otterbein College in suburban Columbus, Ohio. Here is his message, originally posted on Net Benefits: The NFA-LD Debate Cooperative is BACK! Dates: July 31st – August 8th Location: Otterbein College – Westerville, Ohio Cost: $400.00 Registration Deadline: July [...]
So, what now?
One of the problems facing argumentation and debate teachers and coaches is how to connect the theory of the classroom to real-world situations. There are many ways to approach the problem, but I would like to share one that has worked in my courses at CBU. I use a text entitled, “The Logic of Real [...]
Bike Lanes
One of my favorite cases this year has got to be Bike Lanes. We ran with it at the few tournaments Rio Hondo competed in NFA-LD and I think it makes a lot of intuitive sense. It also seems to be a very debatable topic. I had the opportunity to watch a round on bike [...]
2009-2010 Season Sweepstakes!
Sorry for the delay, the week after Spring Champs it was off to Cedarville, Ohio followed by Spring Break. Here’s the final rankings for all three season awards we came up with back in September. Lincoln Division (Highest % of adjusted wins in at least three tournaments) 1 Biola University 2 University of California, Los [...]
Next year’s topic area: Mental Health
From the March NFA Newsletter: LINCOLN DOUGLAS INFORMATION A call for topics was included in the January, 2010 Newsletter requesting that each school interested in and an intent to participate in LD Debate, to submit topic areas for consideration to the Chair of the LD Committee. The briefs that were submitted were contained in the [...]
Affirmative Side Bias
First, I want to congratulate everyone for a fantastic season of NFA-LD in Southern California. The activity is growing by leaps and bounds and there are some phenomenally talented debaters in our area. I’m going to use this forum to discuss one of the biggest problems that NFA-LD had this year – affirmative side bias. [...]
Critical Thinking
Throughout higher education critical thinking is a central tenant of most college classes. Most students must complete a “critical thinking” requirement in order to get their degree. Debate is certainly one of the best activities to teach critical thinking and is one of the reasons it is my passion to teach and share with other [...]
Season Sweeps Update #5
Here is the latest update on the season sweeps. The amazing job that Eric Garcia and company are doing at Biola is not to be overlooked, as they are leading in both divisions! You’ll notice however UCLA is only 1.45% behind, so get on it Nick! As always, any errors are my own. You’ll recall [...]
Case Idea?
Have your case adopted by the federal government already? Looking for a new winning affirmative after your 1AC went 0-2 last weekend? Here is an interesting idea that I read about today on the New York Times – roundabouts. It’s pretty clearly topical – I’m not sure how much more reforming of roads you could [...]
Interesting comment
From the Sunset Cliffs post an anonymous person writes: all the preparation is wasted. opp strategy is always Topicality, procedurals, and counterplans. the debate doesn’t start until the 2nd speech. at least thats what it seems like. If true, I think this is a very damaging to both the future adoption of the event by [...]
Sunset Cliffs – Open Field Report
The Sunset Cliffs Invitational, hosted by Point Loma Nazarene University in sunny San Diego is now just a week away. As of Sunday afternoon, there were 40 teams representing 14 schools from eight states. This is truly a phenomenal field – by far the largest and most competitive in Southern California this year. I’ll start [...]
New Book on Gridlock
Here is a new book on transportation policy. If you’re looking for some good cards and a qualified source this may be a good pickup before the spring tournaments. Gridlock presents a wide range of innovative ideas and policy recommendations for creating an effective transportation system—improvements that will increase our mobility and pay for themselves, [...]
